Mapping Where Your Ancestors Lived

There are days when I do not have a lot of time and I pull up my researcher informer or go to a state archives and I wonder, now who lived here.

State Family history map

So, I decided to map where my ancestors lived. I was able to do this in just a few hours and it is very easy.

I began by searching online for a state or country map that showed the counties/provinces.

I saved that map and uploaded it to iPiccy, which is a free photo editing site.

On iPiccy.com, I went to the fourth tab, which looks like a stack of papers.

Using the heart icon, which is for add vector sticker, I was able to add the hearts.

I then used the next tab and added the text.

The website allows me to adjust the size of the icons and text used to fit my needs.

Country ancestor map

Now I have a quick guide when I have only a few minutes for research.

This will also be a help when I go on genealogy trips.

A quick glance will tell me which individual or family I need to gather information on for my research trip.

A quick glance can also tell me what areas I should plan my research trips in.

If you work with numerous families the way I do, this will be a great resource to create.

One tweak I would pass on, is that in the states in the North East where the counties are scrunched together, I would try a different way of making notes next time. I think one way would be to add a number or symbol either per county or per family and then have a legend on the side of the page to explain the legends so everything is not so scrunched together.